Greg Hinz On Politics

House panel rejects Trump's Great Lakes cuts

With a big assist from a bipartisan pair of lawmakers from Ohio, it looks like plans by the Trump administration to slash funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative are on the way to being derailed.

As previously reported, Trump proposed cutting the program—which pays for everything from sewage treatment plants in Milwaukee and water-permeable concrete in Uptown to electronic barriers to keep Asian carp out of Lake Michigan—a whopping 97 percent. Trump aides said that and other kinds of spending have to go to make room for tax cuts to stimulate the economy.

​ But yesterday, GOP Rep. David Joyce and Democratic colleague Marie Kaptur, both from the Toledo area, convinced the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies to include the normal $300 million in the pending fiscal 2018 federal budget.

The action is only "a first step," said Howard Learner, head of the Environmental Law & Policy Center here. But the full appropriations committee likely will go along with the subcommittee, and traditionally so does the full House. It's worth noting that House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin comes from a lakefront district.

That means Trump aides would have their best chance to strike back in a conference committee if the Senate passed a different budget and the two versions were sent for reconciliation.

"This is an important action," Learner said. "We're trying to protect the world's largest source" of fresh drinking water.